GSA approves Meta's Llama for use across U.S. government agencies

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has officially approved Meta's Llama open-source AI models for use across federal government agencies.

Meta Llama GSA

Meta's Llama is now approved to be used across U.S. government agencies. The approval came through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages procurement for federal agencies. The GSA has now added Llama to its list of approved AI tools that will allow federal departments to use the open-source large language model free of cost.

The move comes as part of the U.S. government's push to accelerate AI adoption within federal agencies, which will help agencies build innovative, mission-specific AI solutions while maintaining full control over sensitive data.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, said

“America is leading on AI and we want to make sure all Americans see the benefit of AI innovation through better, more efficient public services. With Llama, America’s government agencies can better serve people."

Federal agencies can use Llama for various needs, including speeding up their contract reviews, resolving IT issues, and building AI applications that keep sensitive data secure under their control.

Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum added to the statement:

“Thanks to Meta and its commitment to advancing public sector services, our federal partners now have easier access to Llama and open source AI, which offer unique benefits for federal agencies and government use cases. Through these OneGov initiatives, GSA is driving an unprecedented acceleration of AI adoption across the federal government."

Under the OneGov initiative, the GSA acts as one big buyer for each government agency and buys goods such as IT products and services instead of separate individual purchases. This helps reduce duplicated efforts, secure better prices, and simplify the buying process.

Since Llama models are open-source and freely available, the GSA didn't have to negotiate much. Instead, it spent its efforts on ensuring Llama models follow federal security and privacy requirements.

Other AI companies that are approved for federal use include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI, many of which have agreed to offer their products at discounted rates to the government.